Build a Bridge between European Nations Erasmus Project

Project Title

Build a Bridge between European Nations

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: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

Project key concept is the bridge, communication means to link places otherwise isolated, but also symbol of union and connection between persons, races, peoples.
Really and ideally the bridge brings safety, it’s a helping hand towards the other side, a mutual aid agreement.
Because of this prerogative of merging, the bridge can become vulnerable and helpless, as it represents, between reality and metaphor, a danger for those who want to isolate and divide,
The project concentrates on the concept of bridge analyzed from three perspectives:
•the bridge like structure
•the bridge like a cultural metaphor
•the bridge in the economy
The priority objectives are:
•developing among young people a sense of belonging to the European Union, making them aware through experience of active European citizenship
•living the Union through the practice of equal partnership and constructive contribution, comparison of diversity
•increasing skills through alternative and innovative didactic methodologies
5 partners are joined in the project, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, Spain and 160 persons, staff and students, will take part in the mobility. To these persons will be added students and teachers of the host school and stakeholders, local authorities and students’ families. Therefore, totally 200-300 persons will take part in every meeting
The common element of the partners joined in the project is given by the presence in each school city at least of one bridge that, with its own history, symbolizes integration and inclusion.
Participants will have the following characteristics:
Headmasters, teachers who take on a strategic role, to allow a relapse of the benefits of experience in training, student orientation and relations with the local community
students, attending the high school 4th classes or lower, highly motivated, acting as mentors to their peers and organize forums, self-managed debate else through the conscious use of social networks
5 mobility of 2 different kinds have been planned, 1 in each partner country: the first that involves 1 teacher and 4 students of each partner; the second concerns the school staff, involving 3 persons of each school
The activities that will be held during meetings will be of different types. Some of these, such as cultural visits and meetings will be directed to all participants; others will be specific to the type of participants. In particular, teachers will interested into activities related to knowledge of the national school system, and knowledge of methodology used in each school. During meetings the progress of the work will be review and next goals will be defined. Students will show the results achieved until then
Learning by doing methodology will be used, to try to engage in the best possible way both students and teachers. Collaborative working platforms will be widely used; in particular Moodle platform to ensure that students and teachers can collaborate in the creationof the final products that the project plans
Outdoor training methodology will be used to develop, in working groups, the attitude needed to work strategically, involving students in situations different from the daily ones, forcing them to think and act out from normal mental and behavioral patterns.
The expected results are the creation of a website with the publication of the work carried out, specific brochures relating to the subject matter as well as other material that can be used later in the course of lectures to be held in each school
There are significant activities that impact both students and teachers.
Students develop artistic and cultural knowledge about other Nations, but above all they will know other social contexts, most of them strangers, often whitout the opportunity to travel.
The aim is that, at the end of the project, students, through the knowledge of different life styles, different schools, different environmental contexts of their peers, become aware of the European dimension, as real opportunity at relational, occupational and training level.
For teachers, the biggest impact will be the acquisition of different teaching methodologies and professional maturity obtained by contrastive analysis of different types of school systems
The project experience should be capitalized within the school, encouraging the internationalization of the school by:
•redefining teaching methods
•using of the English language as a strategic tool to facilitate the access to the labour market
•testing of continuous exchange of know-how with other European institutes
•Creation of a figure of coordination within the educational institution
Longer term benefits are the experiences gained by the students about knowledge of other social contexts that will represent a resource that will be useful to them during their lifetime.
For teachers, it will be a chance to put within their own schools different methodologies improving their didactic strategies and procedures.

Project Website

http://www.buildabridge.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 108389,89 Eur

Project Coordinator

I.I.S.S. Archimede & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Chastno Sredno Uchilishte Druzhba
• Powiatowe Centrum Ksztalcenia Zawodowego i Ustawicznego w Wieliczce
• FORAVE – Associação para a Educação Profissional do Vale do Ave
• IES Castelar