CONNECT Erasmus Project

Project Title

CONNECT

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Creativity and culture; Cooperation between educational institutions and business

Project Summary

Context
The title of the project CONNECT drew on two main directions that the project was focused on – linking representatives from different cultural backgrounds – Polish, Italian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, and Turkish, in hand with the minority groups existing in some of these schools. We studied each other’s traditions, customs, lifestyles and found out the aspects that connect us and what differentiates us.
The second direction was increasing students’ respect for the teaching profession. Teachers nowadays have a hard time managing students’ behavior during classes. This results from the fact that the teaching profession has lost the respect of the community. Therefore CONNECT achieved a lot about linking people – students and teachers from different cultures, facing various challenges, and created a strong, cohesive community in which all the members feel valued by the others.
Objectives
From monitoring and final evaluation, we have to admit that the aims were fulfilled. After the interviews with all the participants, observations, evaluation questionnaires, analyzing the project documents and reports we are able to estimate the type and quality of the competencies acquired.

O1. improved cultural awareness and acceptance of social, ethnic, and cultural diversity
O2. improved communication and collaboration among actors in the school – students, teachers, parents
O3. improved transferrable skills – data selection and manipulation, ICT, critical thinking
O4. improved language competence (English and other languages)
O5. increased students’ self-confidence and creativity
O6. increased the respect for the teaching profession
O7. exchange of experience and good practices among teachers dealing with similar teaching challenges
Participants
The target group was made up of students aged 12-14 in our schools – about 600 students. Out of these, 120 students are students facing social, economic, integration challenges – orphan students, immigrants, SEN students, Roma minority. Direct participants were 60 students
Activities
During the exchanges, participants had an opportunity to present aspects related to their culture – multimedia presentations, lessons while interacting with each other and learning about the others. They learned about each other’s language, history, legends, music, hobbies, favorite games, etc. They created international games, legends, traditional dances, songs, and artworks.Ss and Ts swapped roles. At the end of each exchange, Ss and Ts discussed what they learned about each other, similarities and differences between countries.
During the short staff training event at the end of the project, Ts shared common or innovative practices in terms of methods to use for bringing cohesion and enabling cooperation in multicultural and socially challenged classrooms. As a result, partners created a guide of good practices for tackling such issues which have become quite commonplace in European schools.
Mobilities
C1 – Italy – JAN 2019 – History and Music connections
C2 – Poland – MAY 2019 – Legends and Hobbies
C3 – Slovenia – OCT 2019 – Geography and games
C4 – Bulgaria – MAR 2020 – Famous People and Customs – mobility canceled due to COVID 19 pandemic and transferred to the next year
C5 – Turkey – JUN 2021 – joint staff training event
C6 – Bulgaria – MAR-APR 2021 – Famous People and Customs – again the mobility was impossible to implement according to the pandemic situation in Europe and was held online
Results
Outcomes: increased motivation, better awareness of European cultural heritage, improved language skills and critical thinking, boosted self-confidence, strengthened the relationship between Ss and Ts; acquisition of values of tolerance and acceptance, increased self-confidence, more cooperative students, increased cooperation among teachers from European schools.
Outputs: a collection of legends, collection of songs, folders with lesson plans designed by students, collections of country/school/history/geography presentations, students’ testimonials in the form of digital diaries, guide of good practices, certificates, management documents, reports, websites and media groups
Improved level of cooperation among teachers, students, and parents, which resulted in better dialogue and more projects in schools that involve all these actors. Parents were more engaged in school life, which led to an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect which will ultimately benefit in the future.
Students developed their motivation, and appreciation for their teachers and the level of tolerance among peers. This led to the creation of a stronger bond with the school and an increase in the interest they show for all school activities. They learned to accept and embrace differences as part of a common cultural heritage. They also improved their level of English and knowledge of other languages, their self-esteem, confidence, which will enhance their school performance.

Project Website

https://www.connectscultures.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 133594,47 Eur

Project Coordinator

Szkola Podstawowa nr 9 im. Krola Jana III Sobieskiego w Gliwicach & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Osnovna sola Medvode
• Primary school “Hristo Botev” Brenitsa
• Istituto Comprensivo Fossacesia
• TEB ATASEHIR ORTAOKULU