Celebrating Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Celebrating Education

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Inclusion – equity; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

This creative arts based project had its origins in the celebration of the 21st anniversary of Community School Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, Ireland when the process of making a sculpture for the school grounds began with the theme of celebrating education. The project evolved to address issues of social, religious, cultural and intellectual diversity among our student population. Subsequently, the potential of information and communications technology to facilitate collaboration of ideas and concepts within and outside the Irish education sector became another significant factor in the evolution of the project. These added dimensions greatly contributed to the consolidation of a project idea which was submitted to the Erasmus+KA1 programme for consideration in 2016. We were successful in our application and the project was awarded a score of 80 at its completion in 2018. The project was further developed as an Erasmus+KA2 project in 2017 with a stronger focus on the creative arts. We were very happy to have had contact, through the eTwinning platform, from the like-minded Italian writer and poet, Vincenza Armiento and so, to accommodate her area of expertise, we broadened the creative scope of the project to incorporate literature and music. We were joined shortly thereafter by partners from Germany, Portugal and Belgium with the creative scope of the project broadened further to include film-making, the performance and culinary arts.

The aim of this project was to promote self-expression through the creative arts and to draw on the influences of our European heritage in the process. It was also our aim to promote a deeper understanding of the therapeutic value of the creative arts among our wider school communities. We hoped this project would inform students on a wide range of subjects, both contemporary and historical, in a vibrant and innovative learning environment. We hoped our students wil develop a wide range of skills and competences including critical thinking, problem solving, the ability to work collaboratively, as well as improve communication skills and digital competency. Additionally, we hope this project will introduce new teaching practices and methodologies thereby modernising our system of education in line with international best practice.
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In all 3853 participants worked directly and indirectly on the project. 23 teachers participated in the project. They were between the ages of 28 to 59 years and were qualified to teach a range of diverse subjects such as Art and Design, Music, ICT, Mathematics, Science, Performing Arts, Cooking and languages including English, French, Portuguese, German, Spanish and Dutch. In all 530 students participated directly in the project. They were between the ages of 14 to 32 years with the majority of these following senior cycle programmes of learning. There was considerable social, religious, cultural and intellectual diversity among students and this was mirrored in the 65 participants who travelled to partner countries for LTTA events. A further 151 students participated directly in the various events of the LTTA. A total of 3300 individuals participated variously from within the school and local communities.

Activities undertaken centred on a contemplation of each student’s education experience expressed through a broad range of creative processes and methodologies. Each school selected a focus group for each year of the project working for a period of 1 to 4 months to progress the work of the project. Four collaborative projects were undertaken including a survey on students attitudes to education, a competition to design the project logo, the design and making of a memory card game related to the culture and traditions of the five partner countries and the compilation of five articles for the project website. LTTA events included informative lectures on the educational system of each partner country and a tour of each school, outdoor activities using a range of digital devices, workshops, demonstrations, blogging, guided tours of museums and art galleries, visits to sites of historical and cultural importance.

The Belgian team wrote and produced a short film. The Italian team also undertook the making of a documentary film and the compilation of a book of poems. Theatrical performances were also produced by both the Italian and Portuguese partners. The German team developed a range of recipes and produced a cookbook. Both the Irish and Portuguese teams focused primarily on the visual arts. The Irish team are near completion of the sculpture “Celebrating Education”.

Greater awareness and appreciation of our shared European heritage, interest in the creative arts and their value in contributing to a sense of personal well being as well as the acquisition of a range of skills were reported by participants as a consequence of involvement in this project.

Project results : https://internationalization.ie/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 141643 Eur

Project Coordinator

Carrick-on-Shannon Community School & Country: IE

Project Partners

• GO! atheneum Leuven
• Agrupamento de Escolas Monte da Lua
• Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Roncalli Fermi Rotundi Euclide
• Städtische Berufsschule II Regensburg