Building up Bridges towards Autonomy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Building up Bridges towards Autonomy

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Research and innovation; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The main objective of the project was the development of a partnership among the schools in Portugal, Poland and Spain that want to create a new methodology in which the students would be the center of the whole teaching / learning process.
Two of the partner schools, Portuguese and Spanish, had already somehow been using strategies and practices concerning the development of independent work, problem-solving and critical thinking. Thus, they had been allowing the students to take their own decisions upon their knowledge acquisition process and to assume the control of their learning. Both these institutions, together with the Polish one, wanted to share their best practices in this field and they were also willing to work closely, with the aim of setting up a more advanced, coherent and innovative pedagogical system. Throughout the development of the referred system, higher education institutions, such as the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences from the University of Coimbra and the Polish Association of Mathematics Teachers, were involved. These scientific institutions have significantly enriched the project’s pedagogical options and strategies granting the project a bigger scientific consistency.
The planned activities gave the students the necessary skills, such as autonomy, responsibility, critical thinking and sense of initiative, to face the world of work and entrepreneurship today.
The project was developed in two phases: During the first year, all the students’ activities were centered on the development of specific competences that would lead to independent work, language and ICT mastery.
Having acquired the necessary tools, during the second phase of the project (second and third years), they developed two common projects in Mathematics (“The Gothic Art and Geometry”) and Social Sciences (“Migrations”). Both projects were developed following the Autonomous Work and the Intelligent Classroom methodologies.
The students set up their own projects in these areas of interest, in groups of mixed nationalities, from the planning, through the development, the presentation and the sharing of the final conclusions. As the projects were based on the development of individual and collaborative work and autonomy, the final results were the natural results of the students’ decisions.
At the same time, a coherent teacher training program was developed and carried out by the whole group of international schools under the above mentioned pedagogical themes. Each school offered the other partners specific teacher training sessions in their own area of expertise and so a continuous stream of teacher training activities took place across the three schools, allowing them to get to know new organizational options, different strategies and experiencing different methodologies (Autonomous Work, Intelligent Classroom and teaching Maths to high rank students)
From all these contribute, the schools were really able to innovate and improve.
The impact was enormous and allowed the creation of a different, innovative and coherent pedagogical model.
The teachers changed their approaches and practices becoming the facilitators of the whole process.
The students could really understand that they are the main responsible for the control of their learning processes.
The participating schools, through continuous observation, comparison and analysis changed their practices and organizations.
The other relevant stakeholders (F.P.E.S.U.C. and the Polish Maths teachers’ Association) collaborated closely with the involved schools, accompanying and evaluating the development of the project and its consequent results.
Two pedagogical kits were elaborated as final products, which will be available to all the schools wanting to implement them. The first will consist in the description of the new pedagogical model emerging from the project, together with the most relevant materials for its implementation; the second will be a practical example in the curriculum areas: Maths and Social Sciences and containing the necessary materials. In what the longer terms benefits were concerned, a close connection among all the schools emerged so that they will give answers to common concerns regarding education, new methodologies and strategies.
The teachers involved established close connections with their partners in the project’s schools, expecting to continue to develop common activities with their students throughout Europe, which will go on beyond the end of the project.
The students’ early mobilities will certainly continue in the future in the form of prospective academic studies, careers or in the development of projects.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 220428,99 Eur

Project Coordinator

Colégio de São José, Lda & Country: PT

Project Partners

• Gimnazjum Przymierza Rodzin im. Jana Pawla II
• COLEGIO SEK CIUDALCAMPO S.L.
• Tividale Hall Primary School