Living Together, Learning Together Erasmus Project

Project Title

Living Together, Learning Together

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

Pikkola and Reyes Catolicos Schools have worked together in a fruitful students’ exchange and like working together. So, the idea of going a step further came naturally: we are applying for this KA229 in a two year’s Project to deepen in our mutual knowledge and to know school strategies operating at a transnational level. The Project Learning Together, Living Together is a new impulse to our relationship by turning it into a permanent educational collaboration. In the future, we would like to expand the network with more partners.
Both partners are geographically far away, but share educational principles: a concern for our students’ well being and personal development, keeping School Plans to assist the weakest and defenseless. Pikkola School is involved in the KiVa antibullying programme and has groups of Student Tutors and Digital Agents. Reyes Catolicos School has Older brothers, Peer student Helpers and Mediator students as well as Individual Tutor teachers Plans.
Society changes rapidly, and so do our students’ routines, their social habits, especially with the use of Internet and social media. Today, harmful bullying behavior includes posting rumors, threats, sexual remarks, etc. Our Plans need to stay updated to detect cases of bullying, conflicts or risks. We feel that an international project with a strong School partner with similar challenges is the best option for effective improvement, learning from their expertise and including new procedures to improve our present Programmes. Besides, we feel that we both lack strategies to detect and prevent cyberbullying, issue suggested by our students, and not only relevant, but necessary to tackle. This project will help us address it together.
Goals: Firstly, learning from each other’s good practices, comparing Programmes and results, observing how the programmes work. First through eTwinning/ webinars, and then with a short-term exchange at the Spanish school, we will enrich our own plans by adding what has proved useful. Secondly, we want to produce together a new Peaceful Coexistence Programme addressing internet risks. First with eTwinning/ webinars and then with a short term exchange at the Finnish school we want to develop together innovative methods to prevent and tackle cyberbullying.
The students participating in the Peaceful Coexistence Plans are the main actors and they will be, obviously, involved. They are twenty 13-17 year olds from each school, with 2 teachers. They will carry out the planned online and LTT activities, working in teams researching and gathering opinions on the current Plans, participating in creative activities (inverviews, debates, short films, magazines, radio clips) to find out how to improve their efficacy and impact, and exploring the issue of cyberbullying. The teachers involved in the Programmes will coach them. These activities’ results will be used to reflect, self evaluate and improve our Programmes.
These are the core goals, but there are lots of sub-targets, equally important, in this Project:
Multilingualism, internationalization, equity and inclusion, especially of those disadvantaged, bullied or at risk, the empowerment of pupils and their ability to participate in society, the acquisition of key competences and basic skills, and the reinforcement of common European values: freedom, participation, respect, tolerance. Students will know a different country and culture, becoming aware of the European diversity and getting beyond stereotypes. They will feel more mature and responsible citizens. Both schools will evolve as organizations, ensuring social inclusion and equity through a safe school environment, dealing with new, online threats. We will build up our capacity for cross-border cooperation and strengthen our European dimension.
The impact will be both personal and institutional. Personal for the students’ development, and institutional by improving our Peaceful Coexistence Plans and creating a new one for cyberbullying. The project will have a long term impact since it will reinforce a key point: a school must prepare students to live “socially”. Our policies can be improved, and the impact will be extensive and help the whole communities. We are not dealing with subjects but with invisible cross curricular aspects that affect our students’ wellbeing and future. Results will be disseminated to the whole educational communities, and to everybody through a website. eTwinning will be used for online and international audiences.
The potential benefits in the long term will be the internationalization of schools, adding the European Dimension to our Peaceful Coexistence Plans and transforming our relationship in a long term cooperation. At the same time, exchanging ideas and learning from each other’s good practices will improve our Plans, and students and teachers will learn from it. It will be a good starting point for cyberbullying prevention.

Project Website

https://sites.google.com/iesreyescatolicos.com/erasmus-learningtogether/home

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 53048 Eur

Project Coordinator

IES REYES CATOLICOS & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Pikkolan koulu