National heritage for our common European heritage Erasmus Project

Project Title

National heritage for our common European heritage

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: Inclusion – equity; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

The project “National heritage for our common European heritage” offers a new approach to cultural heritage by promoting different regions through students. As the participating schools are from all cultural parts of Europe – AEVID in Portugal, Kauhajoen Lukio in Finland, Gymnasio Plomariou in Greece, Zakladna skola CSA Presov in Slovakia, Istituto Omnicomprensivo San Marcello Pistoiese in Italy and Szkola Podstawowa in Marklowice, Poland – the richness of mutual cultural diversities will help to better understand the European heritage as a whole. Our partnership is built up on the previous successful cooperation.
Students of each country will be familiar with and proud of the area they live in and find the diversities that could interest their co-workers. The students will share their attitudes, approaches and experiences. Their view on the heritage of their own region and country will create the basis for the project. The students will find the real sense of their own cultural heritage that enables them to share and promote it within Europe.
They will understand the similarities and differences of the European countries and their heritage through their own experiences and participation in the intercultural dialogue through the project activities.
During 2 years the project will target at least 2000 students from 10 to 17 years, coming from different backgrounds with varying abilities and about 100 teachers. Teachers and students will be the main target and directly involved. Teaching staff from different departments will be selected to participate in the project to ensure that all students will benefit from it. The remaining community (families, retired teachers and people from local communities) will be invited to participate in the project activities. The project will bridge generation gaps among students, their parents and grandparents. The old and young generations will cooperate and promote the value of their ancestors’ heritage by saving their knowledge and skills.
During the workshops we will discover endangered tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Students will learn traditional songs, dances, crafts and techniques and find the spirit of European heritage. The students organized in international teams will promote cooperative strategies that require every student to be a piece of the whole. Students will work together to develop their own specificity and talents. Because the group of students will be heterogeneous, the students of advanced level will be tutors and support the younger ones to be able to discuss and find solutions. Methods such as learning by doing, debate and brainstorming will be used to develop students’ curricular competences. These methods are expected to reduce early drop out and thus privilege the development of individual skills and self-esteem.
We will practice inclusion by cooperative learning to break down stereotypes and to give everyone a chance to learn. Students will learn about heritage on tours across European countries. By making a story map they will disseminate the knowledge. Each school will prepare a crafts tree about the country’s heritage. It will be on display in the schools. The students will prepare and translate digital brochures into English, photos and videos enhancing their language and digital skills. The use of inclusive strategies and special software will allow to fully involve students with disabilities and special needs.
All the results will be published on the project’s and schools’ websites, channels of social media and eTwinning. Dissemination of the results of the project will also be done through local media. The project will have a substantial positive impact on the students involved, their families and the whole community of each partner. The impact will be constantly assessed by tests and questionnaires: activity satisfaction tests, linguistic and ICT skills and awareness of being a European citizen. The project will help the students and our communities to adopt an openness of mind towards the different cultures by revealing the beauty and the utility of various aspects of the past. All participants will adopt a more active attitude towards the protection and studying of the national and European heritage.
A permanent exhibition will be set up in each school with the material produced during the project that will also be open to the local community. We will get experiences and knowledge on inclusion and different cultures and it will become permanent heritage of our schools. We plan to establish international network of cooperation among the participants for future projects. The longer term benefits of the project include an improvement in the teaching methods and contents of the curriculums of participating schools thanks to the exchange of good practices. The dissemination events are bound to raise awareness in terms of European citizenship inside and outside participating schools.

Project Website

https://sites.google.com/opinnet.fi/erasmus-national-heritage

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 195730 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zakladna skola & Country: SK

Project Partners

• AEVID
• GYMNASIO PLOMARIOU
• Szkola Podstawowa nr 1 im. Adama Mickiewicza
• ISTITUTO OMNICOMPRENSIVO SAN MARCELLO PISTOIESE
• Kauhajoen lukio, Kauhajoen kaupunki