Happily Ever After… Erasmus Project

Project Title

Happily Ever After…

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

“Happily ever after…” was the result of an already existing collaboration between two of the involved schools and was a product of discussions and speculations which are common topics of interest among educators throughout Europe. The focal theme of this project was happiness at school and the main output was a film directed and produced jointly by the students of the four schools. A related outcome also was the outline of a course intended for teachers who would like to use filming in their class, with suggested activities to promote students happiness at school. The two-year project was implemented around two axes: research and film production. During the first year the students of the four schools conducted a research, analyzing the factors that contribute to happiness in their school. Moreover, they looked into the meaning of happiness for different generations in their family environment and the broader community settings. The group of teachers from the four schools involved in the project, designed and implemented a variety of activities, which, according to the students’ survey results, made learning more enjoyable. Most of these activities involved ICT tools and group work and were based on a cross-subject approach. Sample lesson plans are available on the project blog.
During the second year, a group of the older students from each school created in collaboration a film on school happiness, which was submitted to the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People. The film entered the 2018 Camera Zizanio Competition and was screened during the Festival week in December 2018, in Pyrgos.
The film making stage involved the students deciding on the scenario and the location of their filming, experimenting with role-playing, getting acquainted with filming equipment, working under the guidance of professionals on this field, promoting their work and sharing it locally and trans-nationally. During the scenario-making stage they exchanged ideas through a wiki space. The common shootings were completed during one of the transnational meetings in Greece.
Two groups of diametrically located countries were involved in this project: Greece and Spain from the south of Europe, Denmark and Iceland from the north. This fact gave ground for comparing a variety of factors beyond school limits, and contributed to better collection of results for the research in focus. It is a common conclusion that, despite all the factors that differentiate levels of happiness in each country, the source of good feelings is common: it lies among one’s family and friends.
As a result of this project students and teachers learned techniques and acquired new skills in filming. More technology was incorporated into everyday teaching. New filming equipment was bought and used. Students got involved in non-formal learning methods and developed a range of life–important skills.
Our partnership was based on good cooperation and flexibility. The roles that each school undertook were based on each partner’s experience and potential. The coordinating Greek team provided the necessary technical guidance, both within the festival workshops and throughout the project, and was responsible for the final editing of the film and its submission to the contest. The Danish team was responsible for providing the scientific input on this topic and invited an expert on the brain during our meeting in Denmark. The Icelandic school, having already looked on the benefits of educational activities related to film production, was responsible for monitoring pedagogical methods used, and compiled the outline of the lesson plans. The Spanish school had a leading role in storyboarding and was responsible for the project blog.
Previous experience of the Greek school in European programs and its parallel participation in a training KA1 program gave confidence in managing the project.
The results were disseminated to a wide audience of educators at local and European level, through social media, educational meetings and through contacts created from participation in Erasmus+ programs. Moreover, the film will be submitted to other European festivals and there will be a continuation in producing short films and submitting them to the “pocket film festival” organized annually in the Danish school.
All four schools have advanced their techniques in audiovisual education and have upgraded their equipment so that similar methods can be used in the future and can be demonstrated to other colleagues in all four countries.
During the two years of the project the number of 100 mobilities was exceeded, and there were about 1000 students from the four schools who were directly affected by the project activities. The nature of our project result, the collaborative film and its gripping theme of children’s happiness, has motivated the interest of teachers across the four countries and has created the need for continuation on this matter.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 64935 Eur

Project Coordinator

6th primary School of Pyrgos / 6o Dimotiko Sholeio Pyrgou & Country: EL

Project Partners

• Colegio Inmaculada
• Høng Privatskole
• Istituto Comprensivo “Angelo Roncalli” – Grotte (AG)
• Lækjarskóli